THE FUCHSIA. 



JUCHSIAS were named in honor of Leonard Fuchs, a celebrated 

 German botanist. There are many varieties of these lovely 

 flowers whi:;h now differ greatly from their ancestor, whose his- 

 tory is very interesting. An English sailor lad, in the course of 

 his travels, found this pretty plant in South America, of 

 which country it is a native. He remembered that his 

 mother was fond of flowers, and thought to take her some- 

 thing which would be rare. Thus the first fuchsia was car- 

 ried to England. 



Mr. Lee, a well-known Jorist of London, first gave them to 

 the public in the year 1774. He only learned of them by chance 

 through a customer, who said : 



"I saw in a window at Wapping a prettier flower than all 

 your greenhouses can produce. The flowers hung like tassels 

 from the drooping branches ; their color was of the richest 

 crimson, and in the center were folded leaves of the brightest 

 Tyrian purple dye." 



Mr. Lee was naturally excited over the description of this 

 flower, the like of which he had never seen. He eagerly asked 

 the exact locality of this particular window in Wapping, and at 

 once hastened to see the novelty which his enthusiastic customer 

 had described so well. 



Sure enough, he had nothing in his conservatories to equal it. 

 He knew in a moment its value and determined to secure it at 

 any price. Knocking at the door he inquired for the mistress of 

 the plant in the window, and upon her appearance at once of- 

 fered to pay her whatever price she chose for her plant. But 

 she refused point blank to sell it. Her dear sailor boy had 

 brought that for her from far away over the sea, and she could 

 not think of parting with it. It might be his last gift to her, who 

 could tell ? It was a keep-sake and she would not part with it. 

 Mr. Lee was more determined than ever to become possessed of this novelty ; so diving into every pocket 

 he pulled out gold, silver, and copper; altogether he counted out a neat little sum amounting to more than eight 

 guineas. He spread the money out before her, and said : 



" All this money is yours and the plant is mine. I'll give you one of the first cuttings I raise ; and when your 

 boy returns the plant will be quite as handsome as this one." 



Money carried the day, and the woman, although unwilling, finally consented to part with it ; while Mr. Lee, fear- 

 ing, no doubt, but she would change her mind, hastily departed, taking with him the coveted plant. He at" once 

 proceeded to grow new plants, and having cut the fuchsia into joints, he planted these in hot-beds. He found that 

 the pieces rooted easily, and it is said that in the short space o£ two months he had been so successful that he was 

 the happy possessor of three hundred plants ! 



The first plant that bloomed was of course displayed in his show window. Here it was seen and admired b)- no 

 less a person than a Duchess, and he sold it to her for a guinea. That very night My Lady gives a reception, ai;d 

 of course her rare and beautiful plant attracts much notice. So the next day brings Mr. Lee many customers, 

 but unfortunately for him, only two plants were in bloom ; still, many are engaged, and before the next three 

 months he had made a clear gain of three hundred guineas upon the fuchsia ! 



Whether he kept his promise to the woman, or if her new plant was as handsome as the original, I cannot say ; 

 but we will hope for her sake that it was This particular species of fuchsia is very seldom seen now, and is very 

 inferior to the varieties now in cultivation. 



There is a beautiful new fuchsia called "Storm King," which is considered by some to be by far the finest 

 fuchsia yet produced. It is very double and of what is termed the weeping class, and it is always in bloom. The 

 branches droop very gracefully and the blossoms are enormous. The buds sometimes take two weeks to expand 

 and are of a glowing scarlet. The flowers are almost pure white, capped by a calyx of scarlet, and one can hardly 



